Social Media Campaign Review: World Toilet Day by Water.org

This campaign is centered around World Toilet Day which is observed on 19 November each year. It is an initiative by Water.org to spread awareness about the lack of sanitation facilities worldwide.

This international day of action aims to break the taboo around toilets. Water.org uses the entire week to draw attention to the issue and garner support.

The tagline of the campaign is ‘Talk Sh*t for Toilet Day’. “More people have a mobile phone than a toilet? As amazing as it sounds, it’s true”, the organization states starkly to highlight the surprising truth about world sanitation.

Objective :

The main objective of the World Toilet Day campaign is to spread awareness about the lack of sanitation facilities.

Execution:

The homepage of the campaign welcomes everyone to celebrate World Toilet Day with them. They further narrate a story of a grandmother who is thankful to Water.org for the new latrine provided by the organization, which will help her family have a healthy life.

Your Facebook or Twitter account can be connected to the campaign. By connecting, you’re allowing the brand to post daily status updates from your account on behalf of World Toilet Day. The message will show up on your timeline as if you posted it.

From 19 to 24 November, a message showing your support for solutions to the world sanitation crisis will be posted from your account. A #talksh_t hashtag and a link will be added to the tweets and posts.

You can also take a ‘True or False’ quiz with Matt Damon, the co-founder of the World Toilet Day, via a YouTube video on the site. Play the video and he will ask you a question. You have to select either ‘True’ or ‘False’. Depending on your answer, you’ll be told if you are right or wrong and also the reason for the answer.

The next step is to go to Toilet Day fundraiser and contribute. Although this is not compulsory, a small contribution from just one person can make a big change to someone’s life.

Positives:

Once you connect to the campaign with your Facebook or Twitter account, the homepage allows you to see the number of your friends who have joined the initiative, promoted posts, and also the social reach of your account.

You can use either of your accounts – Facebook or Twitter.

The easiest thing about the campaign is that the organization does all the work; it posts updates on your behalf for a week.

The entire campaign is described precisely on the site, which makes it easy for users to understand and join it.

The True or False quiz makes the campaign more interesting for viewers. It educates people regarding the lack of sanitation facilities and about the importance of toilets. It doesn’t hurt that Matt Damon is using his celebrity clout to help raise awareness.

The tagline ‘Talk Shit for Toilet Day’ connects well with the campaign idea as the movement is about making people realize the harsh realities that they have been ignoring.

Scope of Improvement:

As this campaign is connected only to Water.org, only those individuals who come across the website discover the campaign, thereby severely limiting the number of people who could be involved. Creating a Facebook page can increase online awareness and participation.

The True or False quiz is a little too short to prompt a deeper interest. It could be more intriguing if there were additional questions to answer.

Conclusion:

Overall, the campaign’s idea to connect their message to supporters’ social media accounts to draw attention and spread awareness about the global sanitation challenge is a simple yet effective one.